Davis Cup: Zverev opens - Struff gets preference over Gojowczyk

Melbourne (SID) At the end of the unusually long preparation for the Davis Cup in Brisbane, Alexander Zverev and Co. were looking for a way out. The top player took his colleagues into an escape room; solving tricky tasks as a team is one of Zverev's favorite things to do when he is on tour. From Friday (3.00:XNUMX a.m. CET/DAZN) the German team will be looking for a way into the quarter-finals against hosts Australia. At the start, Zverev himself is under a lot of pressure. The fifth in the world rankings is the big favorite in the duel of the young stars against the 18-year-old Alex de Minaur. Afterwards, Jan-Lennard Struff, who was preferred by team boss Michael Kohlmann over Peter Gojowczyk, is only an outsider against the in-form Nick Kyrgios. Zverev doesn’t mind the expectations within his own team. "I've been under pressure for some time now. That's part of it when you're in the top 10," said the Hamburg native. The 20-year-old will meet de Minaur for the first time, who caused a sensation in the Australian summer with the semi-finals in Brisbane and the final in Sydney. “It won’t be an easy task, but I’m in a good mood, ready and well prepared,” said Zverev. Struff can also say that, unlike Zverev, the 27-year-old Warsteiner came from the Grand Slam in Melbourne to Brisbane with a lot of self-confidence. In the singles he had an “intense match” with the eventual title holder Roger Federer (Switzerland), and in the doubles Struff even reached the semi-finals. “It will of course be a difficult game against Nick, but I also started the season successfully,” said Struff. The double on Saturday (4.00:XNUMX a.m. CET/DAZN) could, as so often happens, set the trend in the Davis Cup. Tim Pütz (Frankfurt) and Gojowczyk have been nominated so far, but he will be replaced by Struff or Zverev. John Peers, number four in the doubles world rankings, and Matthew Ebden are scheduled for Australia. Captain Lleyton Hewitt, who had reached the double quarter-finals in Melbourne and was expected to play, gave preference to his players. “Training with the boys was fun,” said the former world number one and two-time Grand Slam champion: “I challenged them, but we had enough options.” Hewitt expects an open game, he is relying on the carefree attitude of his protégé de Minaur ("he has nothing to lose") and the motivation of his number one Kyrgios. The world number 14. has blossomed in the Australian summer, Zverev even has the impression that his friend has changed. While Kyrgios was long considered a sloppy and unpredictable genius, "he now wants to exploit his potential. He is one of the most talented players on the tour," said Zverev. Before the Australian Open, Kyrgios had triumphed at the ATP tournament in Brisbane. "He's hard to beat here," said Zverev, "but we're all very self-confident." To make it to the quarter-finals, Zverev will probably have to win the duel between the top players on Sunday (3.00:XNUMX a.m. CET/DAZN). “Both have the same pressure,” says Boris Becker, who is in Brisbane in his role as head of German men’s tennis. After three first-round defeats in a row, Becker knows that the task in Australia will be complicated, the way to the next round is trickier than the way out of the escape room.

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Davis Cup: Zverev opens - Struff gets preference over Gojowczyk

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